Oysters

We certainly hope so! Nathan found this shell out on the beach, completely COVERED in baby oysters from a spawn earlier this summer. Yay! This summer has been glorious… calm and warm… and the oysters are showing their appreciation. Let’s hope it keeps up!

What killed the oyster? If you find an intact empty shell on the beach, chances are pretty good a starfish ate it. (It also might have died of disease or other natural causes, but that’s a whole different story). Starfish use their hydraulic tube feet to pull the oyster apart, then they evert their stomach […]

This is one oyster that will never be hinge shucked. If you ever get a Hama Hama that’s growing on a rock, or on another shell… or on a fake snake… you can be pretty sure it was hatched the old fashioned way. Here’s an oyster that tried to hide in a moon snail shell, […]

… for all you shuckers out there. Point #1. Oysters have two shells. Shells are also called valves, hence the whole “bivalve” bit. One of the shells is typically flat, and one is typically curved or cupped. The flat shell is called the “top,” and the cupped shell is called the “bottom.” So here’s a […]

Tumbling farming is such a new technique that oyster farmers haven’t even settled on what jargon to use… some farms call their tumble bags “tumble bags,” others call their tumble bags “tipping bags.” (And if that didn’t strike you as a totally biased turn of phrase, then we’ve already got you hook, line, and sinker!) […]

Oyster party madness is in full swing, which means that for the past couple of weeks we’ve been traveling around the Northwest shucking oysters and drinking wine and pretending that it’s work. In late October, we turned Nick, Louie and Juan loose on the Flying Fish Oyster Frenzy, and from all reports they did justice […]

This sensuous jingle shell/barnacle/oyster shell arrangement takes the cake for being the most romantic photo in our collection. UPDATE: check out this valentine’s day video from vh1 featuring Maison Premiere and Blue Pools, plus other sexy foods and general silliness.

It’s like tabby, only beautiful and easy to clean. The crafty folks at Hog Island Oyster Company scooped up some crushed shells (and hog rings, and other oyster miscellany) from their parking lots and added the mix to the oyster bar’s concrete countertops. A Blue Pool, breaching.

Oyster harvest begins again at 2 am this morning. Blue Pools and Hama Hamas of all sizes will be available tomorrow in our retail store, online at hamahamastore.com and gilttaste.com, and at the Ballard Farmer’s Market on Sunday. (Next week we’ll have them at the U-District market as well). If you’re not doing anything this […]

Well, we’re sorry to say that our oyster-growing region (which includes several very productive beaches in addition to our farm) has been shut down until October. Vibrio is a naturally-occurring salt water bacteria that proliferates when the Canal gets warm. If you eat an oyster raw, and if that oyster has just taken a big […]